PARC has published its first two policy briefs, translating PARC’s scientific work into practical recommendations for European and national policymakers.

The publications address two complementary priorities: improving the detection and monitoring of chemical pollution through non-target screening and strengthening the implementation of Safe and Sustainable by Design in chemical, material and product innovation.

Non-target screening: detecting what routine monitoring may miss

The policy brief “Non-Target Screening: A new tool to improve our understanding of chemical pollution” highlights the need for a more complete picture of chemical exposure across the environment, food and human populations.

Traditional targeted methods remain essential, but they search for predefined groups of substances and therefore cover only a fraction of the chemicals that may be present.

Non-target screening can complement these methods by detecting a much wider range of known and unknown chemicals, including transformation products and substances that would not normally be identified through routine monitoring.

PARC has tested and harmonised non-target screening approaches across environmental, food and human samples. It has also supported the development of common quality-control materials and reporting procedures to improve the comparability of results across laboratories.

The policy brief explains how these methods can help identify chemicals that may need closer attention, improve monitoring of chemicals in the environment and food, support studies of chemical exposure in people, strengthen workplace health monitoring and provide earlier warnings of emerging risks.

Its main recommendations include:

• establishing a coordinated European laboratory network;
• integrating non-target screening into existing monitoring programmes;
• using common approaches to ensure that results are reliable and can be compared;
• providing training for professionals working with the results; and
• encouraging industry to share information and reference materials that can help laboratories identify chemicals.

Together, these actions could help identify emerging risks earlier and support faster action to protect people and the environment.

Making Safe and Sustainable by Design operational

The second policy brief, “Safe and Sustainable by Design policy needs: First reflections on SSbD in the light of current policy developments”, examines how Europe can turn Safe and Sustainable by Design into a practical approach for innovation.

SSbD means considering safety, sustainability and performance from the very beginning of the development of chemicals, materials and products. This can help avoid costly redesign later on, support the replacement of substances of concern and strengthen European competitiveness and resilience.

However, putting SSbD into practice remains challenging The brief identifies fragmented support for innovation, different data requirements and limited tools to help decisions at an early stage as key obstacles.

Prof. Denis Sarigiannis, Director and President of the Board of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, highlights:

Safe and Sustainable by Design is moving from a conceptual framework towards practical implementation. The priority is to give innovators, companies and public authorities the tools, data and support needed to make safer and more sustainable choices from the beginning.

PARC is contributing through an integrated SSbD toolbox ↗, practical case studies, training and bootcamps, a knowledge-sharing platform and research on new methodologies, exposure models and sustainability assessment.

The policy brief calls for SSbD to be integrated into existing European and national initiatives rather than treated as an additional regulatory layer. Its recommendations include:

• integrating SSbD support into substitution and innovation hubs;
• aligning data requirements across regulatory frameworks;
• connecting SSbD with European systems for sharing and accessing chemicals data;
• creating opportunities to test new methods and artificial intelligence tools;
• supporting data-sharing initiatives in specific sectors; and
• investing in open scientific tools and data.

The brief argues that coordinated action can help make SSbD a practical driver of safer, more sustainable, and more competitive innovation.

These first policy briefs mark an important step in making PARC’s scientific evidence more accessible and useful to policymakers.

By bringing together findings, identifying implementation gaps and proposing concrete actions, they demonstrate how PARC can contribute to more preventive chemical policies, stronger monitoring systems and safer innovation across Europe.